The history of this international project began in Dijon:
Les Doigts Qui Rêvent (Dreaming Fingers, France) is a nonprofit organization created in 1994. In 1995, Philippe Claudet, practicing teacher, founder and director of Les Doigts Qui Rêvent, certain that other countries must have more expertise in the field of Tactile illustrated Books (TiB), spent a week in England, Belgium, Spain and Italy meeting people more or less involved in TiB. None of the countries had an organised production facility like that of Les Doigts Qui Rêvent; all suffered from a shortage of TiB. Each country was working only to meet its own needs. How could these countries help each other? Only the European dimension could offer a solution, and the European Union had opened a new grant program framework, the Culture 2000 Programs.
In 1999, Les Doigts Qui Rêvent (under the initiative of Philippe Claudet), with the help of the Ministry of Culture, organised the first international conference on the theme of TiB. Inviting England (Clear Vision Project), Belgium (Eqla), Italy (Stamperia Braille of Florence and the Hollman Foundation), Sweden (Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille, TPB) and Russia (Illustrated Books for Little Blind Children), the idea was to take stock of the situation of the TiB and consider federating and pooling knowledge and resources. To do so, Les Doigts Qui Rêvent proposed the creation of a European competition to select the best tactile book of the year. Thanks to the irreplaceable help of the French Ministry of Culture, Les Doigts Qui Rêvent was able to submit a project to the European Union in which mass production of the winning books from each year’s competition would be financed and subsidised by European Union funds, translated and produced in the languages of the member countries of TACTUS.
As a result, in 2000 the first competition was held, and in 2001, 609 copies of the top entry, ”Crokato, the animal that changes skin” (by Claudette Kraemer / France) were produced in English (United Kingdom), French (France, Belgium) and Italian (Italy) by the Les Doigts Qui Rêvent in Dijon (socially responsible enterprise). These were distributed in each of the member countries at an unbelievably low price of € 15.25, ten times less than the cost of production. In 2001, Finland (Celia Library for the Blind) joined TACTUS.
The competition was held every year from 2000 to 2007 and was hosted by Dijon, respectively LDQR, in France. It was preceded by national selections in each competing country. However, the European group also met in the middle of the year between competitions for a so-called “technical meeting”. It was an opportunity to exchange ideas, projects, and knowledge as well as providing the opportunity to prepare for the upcoming autumn competition.
In 2005, the Netherlands (Visio), Poland (Hungry Fingers) and the Czech Republic (Středisko rané péče) joined the T&T adventure. Les Doigts Qui Rêvent, with the help of the French Ministry of Culture and the Burgundy Region, submitted the second three-year project to the European Union for seven countries and gave the competition its formal name: Typhlo & Tactus (T&T). T&T founding members travelled to conduct free workshops in several countries in Eastern Europe and in South Africa.
Between 2000 and 2008:
- 7 international competitions took place;
- 800 books were submitted for the competition;
- 19 entries received awards;
- 7,689 tactile illustrated books were produced i 7 languages and distributed at € 15.25;
- 27,800 T&T posters were distributed in the EU and beyond.
It was thanks to this production that many countries discovered that TiB existed, that it was possible to produce them, and that they managed to create a synergy within their country and obtained at least some additional means to design and produce them with local resources, as examples: Italy, Lithuania, Czech Republic, India, Iran, Brazil, Colombia, Russia… among others.
In 2009, structural aid from the European Union ended; T&T became international and no longer had EU support to organise competitions or to produce winning books. The interval between international competitions was extended to two years, and other countries also began to take on the role of organisers:
from 1st edition 2001 to 9th 2009 France
10th edition 2011 Czech Republic
11th edition 2013 Finland
12th edition 2015 Italy
13th edition 2017 France
14th edition 2019 Belgium
15th edition 2022 Italy
16th edition 2024 Poland
The 17th edition will be hosted by the Czech Republic in 2026.
In 2013, the jury began awarding additional prizes in addition to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes. Each jury member nominated one book for the Favorite award. In 2024, the Favorite award was replaced by Special Mentions awarding these aspects: didactic (2 books), artistic (2), play (2), sensitive or current topic (2), tactile boldness (2). The best Polish entry (organising country in 2024) was also awarded.
Seventeen countries participated in the most recent 2024 competition: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Iran, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Ukraine.
The founders’ goal has been achieved since T&T is present in around twenty four countries and known throughout the world. Thanks to the work done, T&T enabled exchanges between all these countries, raised awareness of the need for TiB for children with vision impairment, and in many countries, a national production has developed as a result.
The current international T&T group consists of the following members: Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and United Kingdom.
Evolution of Typhlo & Tactus (T&T) since 2000:
Over the years, the quality of the entries submitted to the competition has improved significantly – tactile illustrations and handcrafting are now of a very high standard. This is largely due to the fact that T&T connects creators and experts from different countries and continents, who can share their experiences, support, and inspiration with each other.
The production and widespread distribution of award-winning books between 2000 and 2024, the workshops organised by T&T members everywhere, the fact that many T&T national selection processes also organised training for authors, the photos of all the pages of all entries exhibited on the Internet – all this has contributed to the improvement in the quality of the books submitted to the competition.
Whereas in the past, the authors were mainly dedicated parents and specialised teachers creating primarily for their children and students, today the circle of creators is much wider. Volunteers of all ages and professions are getting involved in the creative process. This not only increases the comprehensibility but also the aesthetic level of tactile illustrations. The children for whom the books are intended can thus discover the world through touch with joy, wonder, and enthusiasm.